Transportation trailer landing gear

ABSTRACT

Trailer vehicle and landing gear support structure therefor providing for the lateral yielding of the lower end of an upright support when its lower end engages an obstacle on the ground as the trailer is being moved about and preferably preventing such lateral yielding when the landing gear is functioning to support the trailer.

United States Patent [191 Klrwan I 51 Jan. 16, 1973 541 TRANSPORTATIONTRAILER LANDING GEAR [75] Inventor: George B. Kirwan, Huntington, W.

[73] Assignee: lleuuessy Products, Incorporated,

Chambersburg, Pa.

[22] Filed: Dec.4,1970

[21] Appl.No.: 95,159

[52] US. Cl. .t ..280/l50.5 [51] Int. Cl. .3605 9/02 [58] Field ofSearch.280/l50.5 R, 475, 476 R, 423 R 561 v References Cited I UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3,046,037 7/1962 Cain; "280/475 3,235,2'8? 5/1966Tenenbaum 1.2...280/423 R 3,146,002 7 8/1964 Faber ...280/l50.5

836,975 11/1906 Johnson ..280/476 R Primary Examiner-Kenneth l-l. BettsAssistant Examiner-Robert R. Song Attorney-Bede & Burgess [57] ABSTRACTTrailer vehicle and landing gear support structure therefor providingfor the lateral yielding of the lower end of .an upright support whenits lower end engages an obstacle on the ground as the trailer is beingmoved about and preferably preventing such lateral yielding when thelanding gear is functioning to support the trailer.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures TRANSPORTATION TRAILER LANDING GEAR SUMMARYOF THE INVENTION BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side viewof a vehicle trailer with usual vehicle wheels at the rear end and withthe front end supported on a cab truck and with a nonfunctioning landinggear near its front end.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section through the unloaded landing gear indicatedin FIG. 1 but drawn to a larger scale.

FIG. 3 is a similar section of the upper portion of the landing gear inthe position assumed when supporting the front portion of the trailerbody.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the landing gear inclined from its normalupright position by engagement with an obstruction on the ground as thetrailer is moved about by the truck.

FIG. 5 is a section corresponding to FIG. 3 but with the unloadedlanding gear inclined as shown in FIG. 4.

The trailer 1 includes rear wheels 2 and a fifth wheel 3 at its forwardend mounted on the bed of a cab truck 4 for'movement of the trailer onthe highway, in a warehouse, a parking space, or onto a railway flatcar.

Landing gear 5 corresponds to such devices as generally used but itincludes a downwardly opening structure accommodating inclination of itsmain leg comprising a housing 7 having a top plate 8 for attachment toframe cross members 10 supporting the trailer floor 12. I

Near its lower end, housing 7 has a smaller internal diameter neck 13forming an upwardly facing shoulder 14. A piston-like socket member16'is slidable vertically in housing 7 and has a downwardly facingshoulder 17 opposing shoulder 14. A coil spring 18 seated against theunderside of plate 8 thrusts socket l6 downwardly into the positionshown in FIGS. 2 and 5. A ball element 20 with a downwardly extendingstem 21 is seated in socket 16.

An elongated tubular support leg 24 has a reduced diameter upper shank25 threaded or welded to stem 21. A coil spring 27 loosely surroundsstem 21 and is compressed between the bottom face of socket l6 and theupper end of shank 25 and normally positions the support leg in verticalalignment with the housing for telescoping movement into housing 7 butaccomsprings18 and 27 position the support leg as shown in is off theground. If its wheel 30 engages a curb C or other obstruction asindicated in FIG. the leg, ball 20 and stem 21 may incline as indicatedin FIG. 5, but the leg cannot then telescope into the housing becauseshank 25 will abruptly engage the housing neck 13 as shown in FIG. 5.

The structure permits the lower portion of the landing gear to yieldlaterally throughout 360 when it contacts an obstruction on the ground,and avoids damaging the landing gear which is one of the major types ofdamage to trailers particularly when a manually retracted landing gearis not cranked up its full height.

The details of the structure may be varied without departing from thespirit of the invention, which contemplates lateral yielding of the legas may be required to ride over an obstacle.

I claim:

1. Landing gear for a transportation trailer having a body withsupporting wheels near one end and a truckengaging member spaced fromsaid wheels, including at its upper end a rigid housing adapted forrigid attachment to the underside of the trailer body near thetruck-engaging member, a ball and socket joint structure slidablevertically in said housing and a rigid support leg depending from saidstructure and means for selectively holding said leg in a retracted loadsupporting position and extended yielding position, said leg therebybeing adapted to incline in different directions relative to the body byyielding laterally to obstructions on the ground as the trailer is movedabout.

2. Landing gear as described in claim 1 in which the housing opensdownwardly and a piston-like element is slidable vertically in saidhousing, a vertically compressible spring in the housing thrusts saidelement downwardly, said support leg depends below the hous- 7 ing, andsaid ball and socket joint structure connects said element andsupportleg.

3. Landing gear as described in claim 2 in which there is an upwardlyfacing shoulder on the lower end of said housing and a downwardly facingshoulder on said piston-like element, said spring thrusting said elementand said support leg downwardly to engage said shoulders but yielding totelescoping movement of said support leg.

4. Landing gear as described in claim 1 in which the housing and thesupport leg are connected by the ball and socket joint structure, therebeing spring means normally holding said housing and support leg invertical alignment but yielding to accommodate lateral movement of thelower end of the support leg.

5. Landing gear as described in claim 2 in which the support legincludes an upper part slidable vertically in the housing but restrainedfrom lateral movement therein, there being a coil spring compressedbetween said upper part and the inner end of the hosing and thrustingthe support leg outwardly of the housing.

1. Landing gear for a transportation trailer having a body withsupporting wheels near one end and a truck-engaging member spaced fromsaid wheels, including at its upper end a rigid housing adapted forrigid attachment to the underside of the trailer body near thetruck-engaging member, a ball and socket joint structure slidablevertically in said housing and a rigid support leg depending from saidstructure and means for selectively holding said leg in a retracted loadsupporting position and extended yielding position, said leg therebybeing adapted to incline in different directions relative to the body byyielding laterally to obstructions on the ground as the trailer is movedabout.
 2. Landing gear as described in claim 1 in which the housingopens downwardly and a piston-like element is slidable vertically insaid housing, a vertically compressible spring in the housing thrustssaid element downwardly, said support leg depends below the housing, andsaid ball and socket joint structure connects said element and supportleg.
 3. Landing gear as described in claim 2 in which there is anupwardly facing shoulder on the lower end of said housing and adownwardly facing shoulder on said piston-like element, said springthrusting said element and said support leg downwardly to engage saidshoulders but yielding to telescoping movement of said support leg. 4.Landing gear as described in claim 1 in which the housing and thesupport leg are connected by the ball and socket joint structure, therebeing spring means normally holding said housing and support leg invertical alignment but yielding to accommodate lateral movement of thelower end of the support leg.
 5. Landing gear as described in claim 2 inwhich the support leg includes an upper part slidable vertically in thehousing but restrained from lateral movement therein, there being a coilspring compressed between said upper part and the inner end of thehosing and thrusting the support leg outwardly of the housing.